I teach a wide range of philosophy courses, including the history of philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, logic, aesthetics, philosophy of race, and philosophy of religion. My syllabus for a Metaphysics course was recently featured in a piece by the Blog of the American Philosophy Association: see here. Below are some sample syllabi, sample student course evaluations, and the list of classes I have taught.
Sample course descriptions and syllabi
Ancient Greek Philosophy (upper-level undergrad)
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This course entails a study of the major texts in ancient Greek philosophy, including the best and most influential writing by the Presocratics, the Sophists, Plato, and Aristotle. Questions we will ask include, what is the world made of most fundamentally and where did it come from? Is everything in constant flux, or are some things permanent throughout eternity? Is truth something common to everyone, or instead is truth merely "up to the individual?" What is a good human life, and how can we achieve this? Our goal throughout is to understand how and why Western philosophy began and developed as it did, and to recover its valuable early insights, many of which are lost to us in our own day.
Plato's Trilogy (cross-listed undergrad and grad seminar)
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This course will entail a detailed study of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato's three dialogues known among scholars as "Plato's Trilogy": the Theaetetus, Sophist, and Statesman. After spending four weeks gathering resources by discussing adjacent texts by the Presocratics, Sophists, and Plato, we will spend the latter eleven weeks embarking upon a close reading of the so-called trilogy.
Some questions we will consider are, what is knowledge, and how is knowledge distinct from opinion? Is truth merely "up to the individual," or are some truths shared among all? If so, what are these allegedly universal truths, and how can we be certain of the truth of universal assertions? What sort of metaphysical composition would such universally true assertions indicate? Finally, on the basis of our answers to such questions, how can we live good lives and organize societies that encourage flourishing and care for all? Who should be in charge of overseeing such a socio-political project?
Students will be graded based on demonstrating genuine engagement with these difficult questions. The course will be conducted seminar style, emphasizing close reading of texts and regular participation from all enrolled students. Graded portions will include weekly discussion boards, participation in student-led discussions, and a research paper developed in several stages over the course of the semester.
Contemporary Metaphysics (upper-level undergrad)
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In this course on contemporary metaphysics, we will investigate the ultimate natures of reality, existence, and ourselves. Questions to consider will include: what makes a person self-identical throughout a lifetime? Are our own thoughts and minds inherently private and inaccessible to others, or do we somehow share in knowing and thinking? What is time, and must we only travel through time in one direction and at one speed? What is the existential nature of that which is not but could be? What happens when we cease worrying about theories of existence and investigate the cosmos with respect to the nature of ultimate grounding? What are the metaphysical realities of race and gender, and how do these questions help us to distinguish "natural reality" from social construction?
No background knowledge in metaphysical philosophy will be presupposed, but this course will require an honest investment from the student in asking and attempting to answer these difficult and occasionally frustrating questions.
African American Philosophy (mid-to-upper-level undergrad)
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Philosophy entails studying the nature and meaning of existence, including key questions concerning human subjectivity, freedom, and how we should improve our lives and society. In this course, we will consider what is distinctive in the African American experience and the lessons for philosophy from the Black intellectual tradition. In this survey course, we will consider a wide range of voices spanning almost two hundred years, but with the goal of tracing philosophical threads that can inform and improve our thinking today.
The course is divided into four sections: (1) Personhood, (2) Liberation, (3) Critique, and (4) Justice. Our aim throughout will be to pose and do our best to answer questions like: What does it mean to determine one’s life for oneself? What exactly is oppression, and what harms does it bring? How can we free ourselves from forces of oppression? How does answering these questions necessitate our challenging and criticizing traditions of Western thinking and the power imbalances that they yield? In what ways do our answers to these questions grant further insight into such issues as gender, immigration, theology, and climate change? No background in philosophy will be presupposed.
Philosophy of Race (intro-level undergrad)
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Given that there is no deterministic biological basis for race, does race exist? Should we continue or cease to recognize racial categories? What is it like to grow and live as someone who is racially marked, and how do the conditions of oppression affect the ways in which one learns? How has race affected judicial institutions like policing and incarceration in the United States? In what ways is race at play in current crises like environmental collapse, human rights violations among immigrant populations, and COVID-19?
Our aim in this course will be to do our best to ask and answer these difficult questions. In so doing, we will bring the tools of philosophy to bear on the question of race and, in turn, use the issues concerning race to help us to focus our own methods of philosophizing. No background knowledge in philosophy is presupposed.
Ancient Greek and Roman Ethics (intermediate undergrad)
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How should we live our lives? How should we weigh the needs of the individual against the needs of the collective? For that matter, how are the needs of the individual bound up in the needs of the collective? In what virtues or qualities does a good human life consist, and how best can we understand the natures of these virtues or qualities? How best can we organize our cities to encourage health, flourishing, and happiness? How have the ways we have answered these questions changed over time?
These are some questions we will ask and do our best to answer in our study of ancient Greek and Roman ethical theory. We will read and evaluate answers given to these questions by Pythagoreans, Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, Epicureans, and Cynics. Along the way, we will be tasked with doing our best to answer these questions ourselves, and to consider how our own thinking about the good life is influenced by the world in which we find ourselves.
Philosophy of Religion (intermediate undergrad)
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In this course, we will study perennial questions in philosophical theology. We will ask, is there a good argument for or against the existence of God? What would make such an argument good? When various societies talk about ‘God,’ are they talking about the same thing or something different? How do we know that? In what ways (if any) are theology and liberatory social movements connected, and how (if at all) can we use theology and organized religion to foment socio-political change? In what ways (if at all) does theological practice intersect with issues concerning race, gender, sexuality, and class? Do the advances in the human and natural sciences threaten religious practice as traditionally conceived? If so, what (if anything) makes the mode of scientific inquiry so different from, and allegedly better than, theological practice? And given all this, how should we live our lives?
We will presuppose no background in philosophy or religion, will not privilege one set of views over another, and will discuss in a manner open to the perspectives of believers, non-believers, and the undecided alike. Taking this class will, however, necessarily require an honest investment from the student in asking and attempting to answer complex, difficult, and occasionally frustrating questions about the natures and values of philosophical, theological, and scientific modes of inquiry.
Sample student course evaluations
Spring 2023, Metaphysics: student evaluations
Spring 2022, Bioethics: student evaluations
Summer 2021, History of Ancient Philosophy: student evaluations
Fall 2020, History of Ancient Philosophy (two sections) and Philosophy and Race (two sections): student evaluations
Summer 2020, History of Ancient Philosophy: student evaluations
Spring 2019, Introduction to Philosophy of Religion: student evaluations
Further student course evaluations available by request.
List of courses taught by subject area
History of philosophy
Seminar: Plato's Trilogy (grad/undergrad)
Ancient [Greek] Philosophy
Medieval Philosophy
Introduction to Modern Philosophy
Metaphysics
Metaphysics
Philosophy of Religion
Introduction to Philosophy: Knowledge and Reality
Ethics
Bioethics
Knowing Right from Wrong
Ethics
Business Ethics (online, asynchronous)
Social and political philosophy
The Individual and Society
Philosophy and 1960s Counterculture
Logic
Symbolic Logic
Introductory Logic
An Introduction to Logic (online, asynchronous)
Reading, Writing, and Reasoning
Aesthetics
Art and Philosophy in Ancient Greece
Aesthetics
Philosophy of Film
Applied subjects
Philosophy of Race
Philosophy of Technology
Philosophy and Sports
Death, Dying, and Quality of Life